# A Practical Guide to Building Better Android WebViews

DevFeed: [A Practical Guide to Building Better Android WebViews](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-better-webviews-collection-26011.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://proandroiddev.com/the-better-webviews-collection-778c7bd709e6?source=rss-2ffcf6104135------2>)

Author: Stacy Devino

Published: 2023-05-09T14:04:27Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Stories by Stacy Devino on Medium](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/stories-by-stacy-devino-on-medium.md>)

Topics: [WebView](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/webview.md>), [Android](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/android.md>), [Front end](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/frontend.md>), [Google](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/google.md>)

Tags: [android](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/android.md>), [android-app-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/android-app-development.md>), [androiddev](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/androiddev.md>), [browser](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/browser.md>), [cache](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cache.md>), [chromium](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/chromium.md>), [compatibility](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/compatibility.md>), [front-end](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/front-end.md>), [mobile-app-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mobile-app-development.md>), [web-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/web-development.md>), [webview](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/webview.md>)

## AI overview

This practical guide explains how to build better Android WebViews. It covers WebKit and provider differences across devices, compatibility checks with AndroidX WebKit and Browser, shared caching and DOM storage, and WebView settings affecting frontend rendering, scaling, accessibility, testing, and security.

## Source excerpt

The Better Android WebViews Collection WebViews are one of the most controversial subjects in the Community and unfortunately have been much maligned by developers. WebViews can be extremely useful and the best first implementation for a ton of situations from Login and Payments to User Support and Legal. Using WebViews, you can allocate your resources and attention to what your customers value most. WebView-primary apps even make up almost a third of all Apps on the Google Play Store. So, how do we make really good WebViews? Knowledge Drop 🧠💧 WebKit implementation varies ⏺ Non-Chromium-based (Non-GMS devices and some vendors) ⏺ Not all Play-Enabled devices have all features. Use isFeatureSupported and permission checks rather than @Targetan Android OS to be safe. ⏺ Customized Chromium Base (Samsung and Amazon Fire devices) There are 3 "Standard" WebViews available embedded as providers. ⏺ "Standalone" AOSP basic implementation and standard for 5.X-6.X ⏺ "Monochrome" public and AOSP-accessible unified Browser and WebView for 7.X-9.X ⏺ "Trichrome" which is a base Core Library, WebView, and Chrome browser all separated for 10.X -- Now (13.X) Use the modern WebViewCompat extensions with AndroidX Webkit / AndroidX Browser to avoid compatibility issues & version-based errors All WebView instances in your app will share the same Cache and Dom Storage, improving performance and memory usage Trust the Chromium Docs first over android.dev ⏺ WebView is now built and maintained by the Chrome team, so their documentation is going to be the most accurate and extensive WebView Settings for Success 🏆 "Make it look like Chrome" or "Why is Scaling broken?!?!?!" ReactJS, VueJS and similar front end frameworks rely on viewport and framing information in order to enable their dynamic sizing and styling features. By Default, what exists on Chrome is not what is enabled in the WebView and it requires some browser/web rendering knowledge to even figure out what is going wrong. Try these ou